1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to fish lures and, more particularly, to fish lures configured to have the appearance of a worm and to simulate worm-like movements when falling and being drawn through water.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
As a live earthworm or bloodworm or other annelid falls or drops through a body of water it tends to assume a broad U-shape wherein the weighted clitellum is somewhat lower than the ends of the worm. In addition, the falling worm wriggles and squirms in a characteristic manner. There is virtually no tumbling of the falling worm, nor is there spinning about the longitudinal axis as the worm falls. Dead worms, on the other hand, tend to fall to the bottom of the body of water without significant wriggling or squirming; rather, the dead worms tend to slowly tumble in a random manner depending primarily upon the water currents. After observing the reaction of fish to these phenomena, it became clear to us that fish pay virtually no attention to dead falling worms but aggressively attack and ingest live falling worms. It is only after the live worms have been consumed that the fish bother to feed on the dead worms.
When live worms move through water, they tend to wriggle; in addition, the worms tend to alternately stretch out linearly and then compress into a serpentine posture. This complex movement, including the wriggling and the alternate compression and elongation, also appears to attract feeding fish.
In view of the foregoing, it occurred to us that an ideal fish lure would be a simulated worm that follows the characteristic posture and wriggling and squirming movements of a live worm when falling through water. In addition, when the lure is alternately released and pulled through water from the end of a fishing line it should alternately stretch out and fall back in a wriggling motion, characteristic of a live worm.
It is known in the prior art to provide fish lures that simulate worms, at least in appearance. Some prior art worm-like lures have been purported to have worm-like movements imparted thereto as the lures move through water. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,927,392 (Lievense) there is described a worm-simulating lure that is purported to be capable of assuming sinuous longitudinal twists while drawn through water because of a scoop and weight located at its front end, and further because of a web-like tail. The Lievense patent makes no mention of an attempt to simulate live worm motion when the lure falls through water. Moreover, it is believed that the so-called sinuous twists are merely a waving of the webbed tail rather than a true serpentine configuration alternately assumed by a live worm moving in a body of water.
Another simulated worm fish lure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,212 (Pixton). A weight is mounted at the head of this lure to assure that the lure orients itself head-downwardly while dropping to the bottom of a body of water. As described above, live worms tend to orient themselves in a broad U-shape, closer to horizontal, when falling through water. The Pixton lure is not designed to attract fish while it is falling through water; rather, it is tended to attract fish when at rest in weeds, or the like, at the bottom of a pond or lake.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,318 (Mieno) relates to a worm-like fish lure having a spinner-blade at its head end with a weighted keel at the rear portion of the spinner-blade. The combination is said to impart a swimming-like or oscillatory motion to the lure when pulled through water. The patent provides no mention of any simulated worm-like movement when the lure falls through a body of water. In addition, the disclosed spinner-blade and keel distract from the overall worm-like appearance of the lure.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,248,820 (Lamar) discloses a deflecting plate secured to the front end of a worm-type lure, the plate being configured to impart sinuous movement to the lure when the combination is pulled through water. No effect of the plate on falling movement is described, and it would appear that the appearance of the deflecting plate is anathema to an overall worm-like appearance for the lure.
In U.S Pat. No. 3,120,074 (Messler) there is disclosed a 23 worm-like lure having a sinker embedded in its head end. There is no life-like movement described or attributed to the sinker.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,017,716 (Hawks) discloses a multi-section worm-like lure in which the tail section is designed to wriggle as the lure is drawn through water. A weight secured externally of the lure serves as a conventional sinker. No mention is made of lure movement as it falls through water.
Numerous other patents describe prior art lures in which various weights and baffles are incorporated to effect different movements. These patents include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,490,165 (Thomassin); 3,445,953 (Dailey); 2,290,433 (Jeffers); 3,344,549 (Peters); 2,690,026 (King); and 3,683,543 (Santosuosso). None of the described lures have the wriggling and squirming movement that is characteristic of a live worm falling in water. The King patent is of interest for its disclosure of a snake-like or eel-like lure with an embedded longitudinal wire pre-stressed to bias the lure into a normally serpentine pattern. A baffle secured at the tail provides drag as the lure is pulled through water so that the lure elongates and then returns to its biased serpentine configuration when the line is relaxed. Although the lure thusly alternates between serpentine and elongated states, there is no wriggling movement associated with the elongated state. In addition, there is no mention in the King patent of lure motion when the lure falls freely through water.